Michigan wolf hunting may wait until 2015 while opponents prepare legal challenge to new law

LANSING, MI — Michigan wolf hunting may not resume until 2015 despite a new law approved Thursday, and opponents are already gearing up for a legal challenge and long-term fight.

“Once again, the Legislature has stomped on the voters of this state, but we will be overturning this unconstitutional initiative in court,” said Jill Fritz, head of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected and state director of the Humane Society of the United States.

The Michigan House on Wednesday enacted a citizen-initiated law to reaffirm the ability of the Natural Resource Commission to name game species and establish hunts.

The law does not require the governor’s signature, but it will not take full effect until 91 days after the Legislature adjourns for the year, likely meaning March of 2015.

In the meantime, two anti-wolf hunt proposals have already been approved for the November ballot following statewide petition drives, which means that existing laws will remain suspended until at least November. If voters overturn those laws, there won’t be another on the books until next year.

“Those referendums are going to be on the ballot no matter what,” Fritz said. “So we still urge citizens to go to the polls in November and vote ‘no’ on both proposals to return wolves to non-game status while we continue to fight whatever effects come about from the initiative vote.”

Scott Eldridge, a Miller Canfield attorney representing the wolf protection group, said the they will “digest” Wednesday’s vote before determining how to proceed. He cited Article 4, Section 24 of the Michigan Constitution — which is designed to limit the scope of a law — as potential grounds for challenge.

There’s also a constitutional question over whether citizen-initiated laws can be subject to a referendum if they contain an appropriation, which the new measure does. The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 2001 ruling, said those laws cannot be challenged at the ballot box.

Citizen For Professional Wildlife Management, a hunting and conservation coalition that launched its own statewide petition drive to send the citizen-initiated bill to the state Legislature, is ready to defend the new law but does not believe there is any legitimate grounds for a legal challenge.

“We’ve already looked at their legal options, and there aren’t any,” said Drew Youngdyke, a spokesperson for the coalition and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. “It doesn’t mean they won’t try, but none will win.”

Youngdyke said he was pleasantly surprised by Wednesday’s House vote, which ended with a slightly larger margin of victory than the group had anticipated going in. Nine Democrats joined the Republican majority in support of the bill, which passed 65-43, with three Republicans opposed.

“We had almost 300,000 registered Michigan voters ask the Legislature to do this,” Youngdyke said, referencing the petition drive. “They weren’t going around the will of the people, they were responding to it. (The law) doesn’t guarantee a wolf hunt, it just makes sure that decision in the future in going to be determined by sound science.”

Twenty-two wolves were legally killed in three regions of the UP last year during Michigan's first-ever wolf hunt, about half the number the state had hoped for.